Pontiac Photographic Society

COMPETITION RULES

Revised 12/06/06

RULES GOVERNING ALL DIVISIONS

Special Note: A motion was passed on 04-06-02 such that “Pontiac Photographic Society will adopt GDCCC rules effective the date of Council rule change from this date forward.” (04-06-02)

GDCCC rules are published at www.gdccc.org à Constitution, By-Laws and Rules.

Special Note: GDCCC Digital Projection rules were modified 12/06/06.

Classifications

The Pontiac Photographic Society (PPS) offers club level competition in which there are two (2) classes, BEGINNER or "B" and ADVANCED or "A". The club class designation is not necessarily the same as that of the Greater Detroit Camera Club Council (the Council), for example, a worker in the club could be in the "A" class and still compete in the "B" class of the Council.

In PPS, a beginner competes in the "B" class until one of the following conditions occurs.

· At the end of the year in which they accumulated a minimum of 200 points. [History: adopted 1-17-00]

· They request to be moved to the "A" class.

· Club officers have approved a request for advancement by the Division Director. This may occur when the member demonstrates an unusual amount of skill or talent.

· They move up to the advanced class in the Council.

New Member Competition Eligibility

New members are eligible for competition when dues are paid. However, it is recommended that they attend two (2) competitions before entering Society competitions.

Eligibility of Photographs

· Original exposures must be the work of the exhibitor.

· All award winning prints or slides are ineligible for future PPS competition.

· Any unsuccessful print may be entered again at any time. [Unanimous decision: 02-16-04 to match GDCCC rules.]

· In competition, anyone may question the eligibility of a photograph. The challenge should come any time prior to the announcement of awards.

· A maker may submit up to three entries per division at each competition (e.g., On a print night, you may enter 3 color prints, 3 monochrome prints, and 3 special assignments.)

Special Assignments

· Special assignments are designed for all divisions.

· Competition must be scheduled on a regular division competition date.

· Special assignment entries can be any shot that has not been entered in competition before, not just those taken after the assignments have been published. [Unanimous decision: 04-02-02]

Judging

· Judges should be assigned in advance.

· A judge may not score their own entries.

Color Print Division

A “Color Print” shall be any color image printed using any available process. [Unanimous decision: 05-06-02]

· Hand Coloring of the print is acceptable.

· Digital manipulation is acceptable. Clipart is not allowed.

· Note: “Color” Commercial Prints were merged into the Color Print Division on Nov 23, 2004 by unanimous vote of the GDCCC Board..

A maximum print size of 16 x 20 is allowed. All prints must be mounted on a 16 x 20 mat board or foam core mount. No more than a single mat board and only a single backboard may be used [GDCCC 12-07-02]. No wood, rough material or frames are allowed. The original exposure must be the work of the exhibitor.

Monochrome Print Division

A "Monochrome Print" shall be any image printed using any available process. (Unanimous decision: 05-06-02)

· Prints that are black and white with shades of gray and up to 1 additional color are acceptable.

· Prints that are "toned" (1 color) with up to 1 additional color are acceptable.

· Hand Coloring of the print is acceptable.

· Digital manipulation is acceptable. Clipart is not allowed.

· Note: “Monochrome” Commercial Prints were merged into the Monochrome Print Division on Nov 23, 2004 by unanimous vote of the GDCCC Board..

A maximum print size of 16 x 20 is allowed. All prints must be mounted on a 16 x 20 mat board or foam core mount. No more than a single mat board and only a single backboard may be used [GDCCC 12-07-02]. No wood, rough material or frames are allowed. The original exposure must be the work of the exhibitor..

Nature Slide Division

A "Nature Slide" shall be any slide transparency that will fit within a 2" x 2" x 1/8" slide mount that contains "Nature", where "Nature" is defined as:

Nature in all its forms, including the many facets of Botany, Geology, and Zoology. Human elements, if present, should be unobtrusive and enhance the nature story. Those depicting cultivated plants, domestic animals or pets, still-life studies, mounted specimens, museum pieces or groupings, or similar subjects are NOT eligible.

Exception: Digital Slides are NOT acceptable in the Nature Slide Division.

The slide mount size shall not exceed 2 inch x 2 inch x 1/8 inch thick. Slides exceeding these dimensions or that jam the projection equipment will be disqualified.

Color Slide Division

A "Color Slide" shall be any slide transparency that will fit within a 2" x 2" x 1/8" slide mount, except those slides in which a wild animal, bird or insect fills more than one-third (1/3) of the frame and there are no other factors that prevent that slide from being accepted in the Nature Slide Division. Those 2" x 2" x 1/8" slides that are NOT acceptable in the Nature Slide Division are acceptable as Color Slides.

For Digital Slides that are submitted in the Color Slide Division (12/05/01 revision), the image entered must come from a photograph or montage of photographs taken by the entrant on film or electronically recorded. All work, computer images, photography and image manipulation, with the exception of generating the transparency, must have been created personally by the author. Clipart is not allowed.

The slide mount size shall not exceed 2 inch x 2 inch x 1/8 inch thick. Slides exceeding these dimensions or that jam the projection equipment will be disqualified.

2¼ Slide Division

All 2¼ Slide Division classes were merged into one group by GDCCC Board vote on Nov 23, 2004.

GDCCC Change: For 2¼ Slides, [added 04/25/06] “Instead of holding 6 Interclub 2¼ Slide Competitions per year, we will hold 1 competition as an end-of-year competition. All entries will be in the same class. The limit of 9 entrants per club per competition is removed. Any member of any GDCCC club will be allowed up to 5 entries.

Any subject material shall be eligible.

The slide mount size shall not exceed 2 3/4 inch x 2 3/4 inch x 1/8 inch thick. Slides exceeding these dimensions or that jam the projection equipment will be disqualified.

Digital Projection Division

A "Digitally Projected Image " shall be any image where the image shall be displayed using a digital projector and where any part of the process is conducted electronically including electronically recorded, electronically scanned, electronically manipulated, or generated by a computer or generated by a Digital Camera.

The Digital Projection Divisions are:

· Monochrome General (MG)

- Images that are black and white with shades of gray and up to 1 additional color are acceptable.

- Images that are “toned” (1 color) with up to 1 additional color are acceptable.

· Color General (CG)

- Any color digital image except those images in which a wild animal, bird or insect fills more than one-third (1/3) of the frame and there are no factors that prevent that image from being accepted in the Nature Digital Projection Division. Those color digital images that are NOT acceptable in the Nature Digital Projection Division may be acceptable as Color General Digital Projection images. Some forms of manipulation (see below), manual or digital, that alters the truth of the photographic statement are not allowed.

- The photographer may perform enhancements and modifications that improve the presentation of the image that could have been done at the time the image was taken but that does not change the truth of the original story.

- Cropping and horizontal flipping (equivalent to reversing a slide), straightening, keystone, noise removal, dodging and burning, exposure adjustment, color balance, color correction, white balance, saturation, and sharpening, “HDR” (High Dynamic Range), are examples of acceptable modifications.

- Adding elements to your images, combining separate images or rearranging and/or cloning elements in your image, removing major elements from your image other than by cropping, are not acceptable and will lead to disqualification of your image.

· Nature (NA)

- Any color digital image that contains "Nature", where "Nature" is defined as, Nature in all its forms, including the many facets of Botany, Geology, and Zoology.  Human elements, if present, should be unobtrusive and enhance the nature story.  Those depicting cultivated plants, domestic animals or pets, still-life studies, mounted specimens, museum pieces or groupings, or similar subjects are NOT eligible. The presence of scientific bands on wild animals is acceptable. Zoo shots and Game Farm shots are eligible provided the artificial habitat is not apparent in the image. Photographs of artificially produced hybrid plants or animals, mounted specimens, or obviously set arrangements, are ineligible, as are some forms of manipulation manual or digital (see below) that alters the truth of the photographic statement.

- The photographer may perform enhancements and modifications that improve the presentation of the image that could have been done at the time the image was taken but that does not change the truth of the original nature story.

- Cropping and horizontal flipping (equivalent to reversing a slide), straightening, keystone, noise removal, dodging and burning, exposure adjustment, color balance, color correction, white balance, saturation, and sharpening, “HDR” (High Dynamic Range), are examples of acceptable modifications.

- Adding elements to your images, combining separate images or rearranging and/or cloning elements in your image, removing major elements from your image other than by cropping, are not acceptable and will lead to disqualification of your image

· Color Creative (CC)

- (Anything Goes). Any color/nature digital image that contains "Any Subject", that is not eligible in another category. This includes images where all or part of the image is manipulated, created, edited, fixed, duplicated, or imported from another image (see below). All the components of the image must be original work created by the photographer and all manipulation must have been performed by the photographer.

- Cropping and horizontal flipping (equivalent to reversing a slide), str